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Poll: What to do with the Docking state office building?

Lawmakers told state office building needs between $75M to $100M in repairs

A Joint Committee on State Building Construction discussed Thursday the plan to demolish the Docking State Office Building, which needs about $75 million worth of deferred maintenance.

Mark McGivern, director of the Department of Administration's Office of Facilities Management and Procurement, briefs the Joint Committee on State Building Construction on plans to demolish the Docking Building.

As the Joint Committee on State Building Construction prepared to meet Thursday, a slew of Topeka power brokers descended on the Statehouse to hear a proposal to raze the Docking State Office Building.

There were such familiar Statehouse faces as Rep. Annie Kuether, D-Topeka, and committee members like Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, and Rep. John Alcala, D-Topeka.

But the standing-room-only audience also included Topeka Mayor Larry Wolgast, City Councilwoman Karen Hiller, city manager Jim Colson and Shawnee County counselor Rich Eckert.

Wolgast said the city is in a unique position, with the Capitol Complex just a block off a key drag, S. Kansas Avenue, and a downtown revitalization project in the works.

Kansas Department of Administration officials say there are currently no plans to relocate 4,000-some state workers out of the downtown area. But the Kansas Department of Agriculture's impending move to Manhattan was announced last year, and Department of Administration Secretary Jim Clark has plans for a major shakeup of downtown property ownership.

Wolgast and the others heard a presentation Thursday from administration department officials who said years of neglected maintenance have left the Docking building, at S.W. 10th and Topeka Boulevard, in such disrepair that the state's best option is to tear it down and disperse its employees to privately owned office space.

Mark McGivern, director of the Department of Administration's Office of Facilities Management and Procurement, said the seven-story building needs between $75 million and $100 million worth of deferred maintenance and is only about 75 percent full.

"Like those before us we can kick this can down the road and do nothing, or we can make a very reasonably priced investment that pays for itself," McGivern said.

Department officials plan to introduce a bill this session that will include razing Docking, a move McGivern says will pay for itself within 10 years.

McGivern said the demolition plan, which includes relocating heating and cooling elements currently in the Docking building, would cost about $17 million.

Kelly asked him about another option that has been floated — dropping the building to three stories, thereby downsizing to only the space needed and lowering the amount of maintenance.

McGivern said such a plan "was discussed" and called it "significantly more expensive than the razing option and slightly less than a full restoration."

Kelly said she had no love for the Docking building aesthetically, but there appeared to not be enough money in projected budgets to do anything.

McGivern said spending a little money now would save the state from spending more in the long run, but Kelly noted that the Kansas Department of Corrections has made the same argument for increasing funding for treatment programs.

"I hear you, but we need to deal with the money that's in the bank," Kelly said.

In addition to razing Docking, Clark also has proposed selling the Landon Building and the Eisenhower Building downtown to private landlords who would then lease them back to the state.

In the Docking proposal handed out Thursday, Phase 2 of the plan included analyzing those sales, as well as the sale of the Curtis State Office Building and Kansas Department for Children and Families building north of downtown.

Clark has said he wants the state out of the business of owning buildings. Jon Hummel, Gov. Sam Brownback's interim budget director, told legislative budget committees Thursday that he agrees.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years in state government, it’s that we’re not a very good landlord and probably should be out of the landlord business,” Hummel said.

Clark said the Topeka rental market is favorable, even though the presence of Docking is "a huge drag" on it.

"We should be able to beat the market," Clark said.

"I understand that's your hope," Ward said. "But once you blow up Docking we need to take the market as it comes."

Alcala asked if there is enough private office space in downtown Topeka to accommodate the displaced state workers. Clark said there was. Alcala said that for the good of downtown, he isn’t in favor of shrinking the number of workers there.

"We agree with you," Clark said.

In response to more questions from Alcala, McGivern also said his department has been in close contact with local Topeka leaders, and they are abreast of the department's plans.

Wolgast said the department has done a great job of communicating with local officials, but Hiller stressed the city council isn't sure what to think yet.

"We haven't taken an official position on any of the dimensions of this yet," she said.